Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 4- Novice Village

"Thank you for joining Rivalry! Would you register an account?” The intelligent system reminded Ivan to create a new account.

Ivan selected “YES”, and seconds later, the intelligent voice stated, “Account registered successfully! Helmet No. 33205566 is assigned to Ivan (ID 500xx). Please contact Customer Service to edit or update any information.”

"Please enter a username to create your role."

"Bishop!" Ivan answered without hesitation. He couldn’t think of any reason to give up the name he’d used for so many years. Plus, he didn’t want to miss an encounter with King just because he changed a new name.

"Role created successfully! Dear Bishop, you’re in version 1.0, with default race Human. More interesting stories will be found in the game."

"Would you enter the game now?"

"Yes"

"Wait a minute! I haven't chosen class yet?"

"Dear Bishop, you’ll get your class in the coming game.”

With a mechanical sound from the system, Ivan was pulled into a huge vortex...

…

"You have entered the novice village no. 10002!"

"Are you kidding me? Entering the game without class? Holy s**t! Amazing!” Ivan looked around.

Standing at the center of a village, Ivan saw several antique two-floor buildings. The brown-red roof and traditional window immediately left Ivan feeling as if he was actually in the last century. He looked around to see that surrounding the buildings were rows of apricot trees with golden leaves waving in the wind. Ivan also saw many other people in the village, there were probably at least a few hundred players waiting to compete. 

“Umm…Ivan, it’s okay! You can make it!”

"Hi, kid! I can tell you’re struggling with something. How can I help you?” An old voice suddenly came to Ivan's ear.

Ivan turned to the voice, seeing an old man in a robe. He thought to himself with excitement, "I know I’m a lucky guy! Is there already a mission or challenge?"

Ivan quickly went up to seize the old man's hand, "Sir, thank God, this is exactly the right timing! I’ve been searching for a mission for a while. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Ivan fantasized that mobs and treasures were flocking to him.

The old man replied cheerfully, "Ahaha, I admire your ambition! Young man, I can even see myself in you. I am sure you could be a qualified village chief, just like me, organizing hundreds of villagers."

Ivan continued, "Thank you! Is there any mission you would like to assign to me? I’ll do whatever I can to achieve it!”

The village chief seemed hesitant, "Well, now that you ask, maybe you can help us on the most difficult mission of our village."

Ivan was excited, "No problem! What can I do for you?”

However, the chief looked to be a bit embarrassed, "Young man, could you help us with the toilet? We’ve spent a long time to find a responsible person. Do you think you can handle it?”

"Come on!" Ivan roared. He’s no idea what other players would react if they found him helping with the toilet, however, he didn’t think he had any choice now, "Is there a reward?"

"I’m afraid not," the village chief answered with a smile.

"s**t!"

Ivan wandered around depressed that he didn’t find any mission or challenge. It seemed he had to find some mobs to kill if he wanted to make it to the next level. But, he knew that he had to check his stats first. 

Ivan opened his Stats menu.

Username: Bishop

Level:1

Hit Point:100

Magic Point:50

Attack:6

Agility:2

Stamina Point:3

LUCK:1

Defense:2

Resistance:2

Equipment: Cloth: DEF+2

Shoes: MOVE+1

Ivan understood most of the terms since they were commonly used in the games, except for SP. Ivan knew it was reasonable to have limited SP in the dynamic game. However, in the Rivalry, once the SP was gone, HP would drop following player's activities, such as walking or chopping. SP would increase though by eating food.

Ivan looked down at the ring on his hand and realized that it was a Storage Ring, like the Bag in the game. His was a lesser bag, but he assumed that he could get a higher level one after completing missions and challenges. 

When he opened the bag, he saw 50 grids for equipment, 10 copper coins, a weapon but he was disappointed when he saw the weapon. 

Rusty knife (Common): ATK+3

EP: 10/10

The positive side was Ivan got three more points on ATK, from 6 to 9 so the rusty knife did give Ivan a little more confidence.  

It took all of Ivan’s strength not to accept a mission in the village. The only missions in the village were to clean the toilet or wash underwear. Ivan figured that they were too disgusting for the players to handle so they all rushed out in mobs. 

In front of Ivan was a scene he never thought he’d see, female players chasing a hare, a dozen players following a wild boar, several muscle players with sticks in their hands running after a dog.

"No wonder people say players are more terrible than mobs." But, Ivan still waved his hand, joining them.  

Just as he began to enjoy chasing the dog, Ivan heard someone knocking on his game helmet. He took it off and found Claire standing in front of him.

"Claire, is there something I can do for you?”

"Ivan, Leo suggested three of us could add each other in the game," said Claire, sticking out her tongue as she disturbed Ivan.

Seeing Claire’s cute movement, Ivan found his anger vanish immediately. "Sure, what are the names?"

Claire replied with a smile, "My name is Bunny, his name is FierceKiller."

Bunny? FierceKiller? Ivan didn’t how to comment on those tasteless usernames. Shaking his head, Ivan put on his helmet to rejoin the game.

After logging into the game, Ivan added Claire and Leo as friends and grouped them in the Ace. He then also got confirmation from another two people. It turned out that players in the Rivalry couldn’t select a class or transfer unless they met NPCs. However, NPCs were also classified from their skills, races, and other qualifications.

For example, a player could get related skills or equipment from a Warrior. There would be very few chances to get a holy skill or holy equipment from a high-level Warrior, the probability was said to be one in a million. On the other hand, if you found a shoe-shine NPC, the player would transfer to a shoe-shiner automatically. The most popular classes were always Warrior, Rogue, Ranger, and Priest. 

The only thing Ivan was curious about was how the game could develop if the player played the game without transfer.

Ivan always wanted to be a Mage considering the high ATK and amazing AOE. He got excited just thinking about all the players gathering around him, the most powerful Mage, asking for his help. He could charge a gold coin each time, he thought. 

He suddenly snapped back to reality, “Wait a minute! Something is wrong here…”

He knew he had to work harder, with only his rusty knife.